Monographie Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

HIGH-PERFORMANCE HIGHER EDUCATION LANDSCAPE – APPRENTICESHIP WITH PRACTICAL ORIENTATION
The entire region is covered in a dense network of higher
education institutions. Apart from the University of Bonn,
which has been committed to research for two centuries,
the Rhein-Sieg district also shines with a host of new
academic institutions. There is an intensive scientific
exchange among the higher education institutions in
Cologne and Aachen.
Scientia potentia est. If the saying of “knowledge is power”
turns out to be true, this knowledge may not, however,
remain isolated within the room. Only when education,
research, science and economy enter into a symbiotic
relationship, something great can be created. Thus, for
instance, the Digital Hub Bonn – a start-up centre that is
created in partnership with the regional economy, the
Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chamber of Industry and Commerce,
diverse business developments, as well as the University of
Bonn and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied
Science. Although the project – which has the purpose of
providing networking opportunities for young entrepreneurs
with the local companies – is still getting off the starting
blocks, it has already gained the reputation of a small
Silicon Valley today. “With the digital hub, we will significantly
increase the cooperation of the region related to the
creation of sustainable IT competences and the founding of
new IT-competences“, says Prof Dr Hartmut Ihne, President
of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Science
(H-BRS). The H-BRS has long since successfully been working
in close collaboration with the regional economy, higher
education institutions and research establishments on the
further development of digital technologies for an eco -
nomically successful and sustainable society. An example
for the successful cooperation between higher education
institutions is that of the internationally-renowned IT
research institute Bonn-Aachen International Center for
Information Technology (b-it), which has been operated
since 2002 as a joint venture of the University of Bonn,
H-BRS, RWTH Aachen and the Fraunhofer Society. B-IT is
financed by the B-IT foundation, which was created es -
pecially for this purpose. Its objective is to internationalise
and accel erate degree programmes in applied informatics
to an elite level.
200 years University of Bonn: excellence and
investigative spirit
Konrad Adenauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Heinrich Heine,
Robert Schumann, Max Ernst – the alumni list of the Rhenish
Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn reads like a who’s who
of politics, science and culture. The main building of the
University has always been a landmark of the Rhine metro -
polis: the beautiful electoral castle in the city centre, which
once used to be the residence of the Electors of Cologne.
2018 will see the celebration of a great festival: the University
of Bonn will be celebrating its 200-year anniversary. Cor -
respondingly, the venerable university can look back at a
long-standing tradition. Already in the 20th century, the
Bonn-based Alma Mater was considered among the most
important universities in Germany – a success story that has
continued to this very day. The British “Times Higher Education”
magazine ranks the University of Bonn among the 200
best universities worldwide, it was positioned 94th. In the
German ranking, it is at place eight. Currently, more than
35,600 students are registered here, of which about 4,500
are from abroad. The scientific prestige of the University of
Bonn is determined by the performance of its approximately
555 professors, almost 4,000 scientific and about 5,400 nonscientific
employees – these also include employees of the
medical faculty and the university clinic. The scientific institutions
are distributed across the entire metropolitan area.
Campus Poppelsdorf will be inaugurated in the summer of
2017, where computer scientists and nutritional scientists
will be lecturing and learning. In the field of natural sciences,
Friedrich-Wilhelms University has worked itself into top
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